Every Tourney has a Journey
With the 2025 NCAA basketball tournament in full flight, one has a myriad of storylines to follow. One Shining Moment times 68 teams. There is so much passion from fans across the NCAA that it has created the term March Madness. Fans are committed to their teams, or committed to just watching good basketball. Yet every year there are personal stories that just take your breath away. This story is just one, but a great one for Olympia Sports Camp to be proud of.
The story I share is not from this year. The story I share is from ten years ago even though it feels like a moment ago. The story I share involves the favourite NCAA player for a lot of people, especially those who have shared the courts of Olympia Sports Camp with Gonzaga's Kevin Pangos.
Olympians know that Kevin got his start on the courts at Interlaken, then starred at Newmarket's Dr. Denison High school and was the youngest ever to suit up for our national team at 16 before going on to an All-American career at Gonzaga. He truly became not only one of the camp's great success stories but he gave back by coming to camp as a guest speaker as he began his professional career. What people don't know is that, we may all love Kevin, but Kevin was absolutely revered by fans across the NCAA.
Fans like Ronald Walsh. At home in New England, his heart is with Gonzaga and Kevin Pangos. With good reason.
To capture the story in my book, I borrowed from an essay written by Barbara Walsh, Ron's daughter and a Pulitzer Prize winning author. I edit for length.
To his family, friends, and local coaches he is known as Mr Basketball. My soon to be 80 year old father Ronald Walsh, lives for hoops. Each year he spends hours researching, plotting and calculating who will make the final four in the NCAA tournament. He watches every game, cheering, cursing, and noting players skills, and strategies.
But this March, the Big Dance meant a lot more to my father. Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga's senior point guard known as the General, gave my dad hope during one of the toughest and most debilitating times in his life. Months before March Madness, my dad began failing. He ended up needing emergency cervical spine surgery. On March 27 my dad woke from a 7-hour operation, had an oxygen tube, a large neck brace and an IV for pain medication.
"What channel is Gonzaga on?" We were stunned that he even knew what day it was. Once we turned the game on, my dad started to relax, to forget about the pain and the fear that he may never recover.
"See number 4?" his eyes following Pangos as the Gonzaga guard brought the ball down the court, "He's like a coach out there. He leads the team. He doesn't care about points, he cares about the team."
This year this Canadian guard led Gonzaga to a 29-1 record and his selfless leadership epitomized my father's basketball mantra "there is no I in team." On this night in the hospital Pangos led his team to victory against UCLA. "This kid is something else."
I nodded, wiping away tears and silently thanking Pangos for comforting my dad that night and during previous games when my father struggled in Florida.
On March 29 Pangos and Gonzaga distracted my dad one more time as my father wrestled with his pain and a bad bout of physical therapy. Quietly he watched the game he loved and the player that he loved.
Although they lost to Duke that night and didn't make the Final Four, Pangos will forever be one of my dad's heroes. I will never forget how #4 eased some of my father's discomfort, frustration and fear during a cold March 0f 2015.
Our family decided to write a note to Kevin explaining his role around my dad's difficult surgery. To our surprise, Kevin responded.
" I want to thank you for your incredible support throughout the last couple of months. Even through such a difficult time in your life, you still managed to watch our games. I really appreciate that. I hope your health continues to get better. All the best. Kevin Pangos. The General."
My dad was stunned that his favourite point guard took time to send him card.
"What a class act," he marvelled.
This great story doesn't end there. At the bottom of Barbara's essay she posted her email. I contacted her and told her about my upcoming book on Kevin. She was so supportive and suggested that her dad would love to hear from me. I gave him a call, and that call was proof that what you put into something you get back tenfold. Our chat was something I'll always remember. When I heard him speak of family values and respect I could see how he would attach to someone like Kevin.
" I saw Kevin play in his freshman year and was so impressed with his poise, his composure," Mr. Walsh said, " So many young kids are looking for money and the easy way, but there is no pedestal under Kevin. He is grounded. Kevin would show so much character and leadership when his team needed it most. I have been coaching and watching basketball for sixty years and Kevin Pangos is my favourite player of all time."
Wow.... Just wow.
A 2025 follow up: When I thought I would write this blog I decided to reach out to Barbara to let her know it was coming out and that I would love an update on her dad. Here is her response.
" I would love to talk to you about how the Pangos story and your book affected my dad. It gave him hope during a real difficult time in his life. After he underwent that spine surgery he battled prostate cancer and died in October 2016. I miss him every day."
A life well led. Thanks to Ronald Walsh for all you invested in the game of basketball and the love you shared throughout your coaching career. You'd be proud of what Kevin continues to do as a pro, and now as a father sharing the values that you shared for over 80 years.
Forever Mr. Basketball
In writing Can't Miss: The Kevin Pangos Story I got to meet people like Ronald Walsh and feel better for the experience. The writing of this book put me on a path to write A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp. Can't Miss followed the journey of one person; A Hero's Journey follows the journey of thousands.
A Hero’s Journey chronicles the people that make up the history of Olympia, but it does far more than that. It serves as an inspirational guidebook for readers to become the hero of their own path. In order to do this the book examines the history of the land on which the camp has been built, from its indigenous origins to the European settlement process of the 1800’s. and the use of the land by the Royal Norwegian Air Force during WWll. The book is built on a collection of stories related to mentorship, sports psychology, and community building. This book honours the 50-year history of the camp while giving us all a window into seeing a deeper level of understanding of the world and our place in it.
Books Available at:
- Amazon and Indigo.ca
- Indigo, Burlington Brant Street location.
- The Different Drummer Book Store on Locust Street in Burlington\
- Cedar Canoe Books on Main St in Huntsville
- Etransfer me $30 and I'll drive it to your house !
- available online at aherosjourney.ca
- audiobook version is available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes
A great story Chris-----thanks for sharing
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